Wednesday, 19 July 2017

Reaching Out.

I was watching a young couple going through a supermarket
checkout today. They were both clearly of Middle Eastern ethnicity and the
woman was wearing a headscarf. They had an air about them, a defensive air
which seemed born of a sense of non-belonging, and so the suspicion that they
were refugees was inescapable.

I went over to them when we had both been through our
respective checkouts and asked the man: ‘Are you from Syria?’ He seemed a little
surprised and answered ‘Yes.’ So I shook his hand and explained that I was so pleased
that they had managed to reach a place of safety away from the horrors they’ve
been experiencing for so many years.

‘No speak much English,’ he said with a worried frown.

‘Do you know what “welcome” means?’ I asked.

‘Yes,’ he said with a beaming smile.

‘Good man. That’s all you need to know.’

There was something mildly amusing about it, but it was
touching too. And I’m sure he understood pretty much exactly what I meant
because welcoming body language isn’t difficult to read wherever you come from.
It’s one of those universal gestures which remind us that we’re all just human
beings, and that the word ‘humanity’ comes from the same root. And I hope we
all had a better day for the little piece of connection which passed between us.
I know I did.

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About Me

I've never had money because I've never been driven by money. I received little formal education beyond the age of sixteen, which isn't such a bad thing since you get a different angle on life that way. Learning what you want and need to learn often reveals things that the system's road keeps hidden.

BOOKS

Anyone interested in viewing the availablity of my novel Odyssey or novella The Gift Horse can do so here.

To Be Retained...

...until death do re-unite or the Priestess return to Avalon.

Khalil Gibran on Children.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

OMAR KAYYAM ON REGRET.

The moving finger writes and, having writ, moves on. Nor all your piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line, nor all your tears wash out a word of it.

Herman Hess on Nobility

There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self .

Free Fiction

I have another blog called A Handful of Stories on which I've posted some of my short fiction. Most of it has been published by a variety of independent small press publishers, so somebody other than me must have thought it worth reading.

Pictures.

All the permanent pictures and some of the posted ones on this blog are my copyright. Most of them, however, are placed with a picture library which holds the licensing rights. I don't, therefore, have the legal right to grant permission to use them.

An Inhabitant of the Hungry Ghost Realm

This character appears in one of my short stories, and also in the novel. He's sadder than he looks, poor thing.